Today, you can easily borrow, return and park cars through smart technology. Riding public bikes and shared scooters casually has become a choice of lifestyle. You are in control of your freedom and your direction. 

New urban mobility now and for all

Are you stuck in the traffic during the peak hours to and from work? Do you have problem finding a parking space? To arrive at your destination more freely and gracefully, you now have a more convenient choice. The shared electric scooters and public bicycles that can be rented and ridden any time have now become more common among people living in smart cities today. 

The quantity of scooters in Taiwan is massive with high density. In 2018 alone, there were over 13 million scooters registered. According to the analysis of Taipei citizens using means of transportation on a daily basis in the same year, it is easily found that the use of private transportation means is mainly for commuting. In spite of this, another statistic compiled by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications shows that many people buy cars but park the cars in the parking lots most of the time, leaving the cars idle and useless. 

In response to current global demand for green transportation, the integration of electric scooter industries and connected vehicle technology has brought more opportunities. The counselor and general director Wang, Mu-Han of Office of Science and Technology Advisors of MOTC pointed out that “It is not enough to replace one fuel-based car with one electric car. The introduction of connected vehicle technology improves safety while sharing allows the public to replace purchase with rental, which will bring more advantages to the traffic environment.” For this reason, MOTC’s Transportation Technology and Industry Committee specifically emphasizes shared scooters in electric scooter agenda and expects to invigorate more energy to innovative industries through policy support. 

Renting instead of buying- shared electric scooters replace private transportation means 

Appealing in smart electric scooter services, WeMo Scooter was founded in 2015 and is known as the forerunner in shared scooter services in Taiwan. After five years of dedication, WeMo now owns over 7,000 scooters in Taipei City, New Taipei City, and Kaohsiung. The number of riders reaches over 5 million a year while the members are expected to hit 800,000 people by the end of this year.  

The electric scooter rental model of WeMo Scooter differs from the borrowing and returning stop set up by YouBike. The WeMo model adopts stop-less service model while the public download the APPs and register for membership before searching for the nearest vehicle available. The public can easily rent and ride via mobile phone, as well as returning the vehicle anytime, anywhere.

In view of the rare parking space in metropolitan, “data shows that there are over 1 million scooters in Taipei City but more than half of the private transportation means have been used less than 30 minutes. These people are the best subjects of our services,” WeMo CEO Jeffrey Wu shared. “If they are willing to choose shared scooters, instead of owning a car due to  our efforts, I believe that it will release more parking space in the future.” 

People will need to face parking problems in metropolitan even if they choose scooters. To solve parking scarcity, WeMo also shifts from the stop-less service model to the hybrid service of stop and no stops. Jeffrey Wu mentioned: “We are working with many parking lots under Taipei City Government and the department stores near Banqiao Train Station to set up exclusive parking space for WeMo users. On the one hand, we can centralize management, and on the other, we can solve the parking problems for users.” The company will set up 2,000 exclusive parking spaces by the end of this year. 

Apart from solving problems in borrowing, returning, and parking cars in the short run, it is most important to reduce the total private transportation means modes over the long run. “I ride a scooter but I don’t necessarily own it. If there are 30~50 thousand shared scooters for public use in a city, I believe that it could replace 20~30 thousand private scooters,” said Jeffrey Wu. 

(WeMo Scooter CEO Jeffrey Wu)

Upgrading as the priority and last miles for proximity to life

Coincidentally, the YouBike 2.0 trial-run around Gonguang and NTU campus in Taipei City has established 102 stops with approximately 1,800 parking meters for 500 users to rent and use YouBike 2.0 public bikes. The purpose is to provide more convenience to the public when leaving and returning home. 

In the past, the borrowing and returning of YouBike relies on the stops, while the 2.0 upgrade program enhances the design of flexible parking meters. The stops can be installed in all corners of the streets, with closer and more intense services. Moreover, the rental model of YouBike 2.0 changes the restriction of using e-voucher of the current YouBike model by providing payment methods via mobile phone, QR code, and other credit card bundle methods. The card sensor is installed on the bicycle, adopting solar-power supply without additional power needed. Users only need to tap on the specific part to rent and can rent/return the scooter without the parking meters. 

The YouBike 2.0 upgrade project is still in the verification and run-in process but the public bicycle services on the streets are closer to our life and can more easily meet our demand for mobility.  

From smart transportation to a new and smart city lifestyle 

From public bicycles to shared electric scooters, county and city governments are seeing the same public demand by actively introducing smart transportation solutions to public transportation. For example, Taipei City government integrates “4U,” YouBike, U-Motor, U-Car, and U-Parking services to provide more convenience to traffic, thereby reducing the possession of private transportation means. Under the premise of not sacrificing convenience, the services reduce burden on the cities and individuals, thereby mitigating the urban traffic and environmental pollution while encouraging the industry innovation related to smart cities. 

“We often wonder, can we do more other than promoting scooter sharing? Can we become part of the entire smart transportation system by providing more diverse services?” Jeffrey said with a laughter. The shared electric scooter service platform can collect big data on the roads in tens of thousands of IoT devices and nodes in the city. 

For example, recording the safety and mobility data of each scooter will help optimizing riding safety. In the future, information on vehicle condition, weather, and other factors affecting riding safety will be provided to riders instantly. These data will also provide improvement suggestions for the software/hardware equipment of vehicles. Moreover, the GPS detection can report the holes on the roads and detect PM2.5 in the air. More and more innovative applications about smart transportation will be connected and realized in our daily life.